Jamie Carragher has further savaged Trent Alexander-Arnold for his “shocking” positional play in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United. The 26-year-old has come in for heavy criticism following a poor individual display, amid intense speculation he’s set to join Real Madrid.
The right-back was caught in no man’s land for both United goals, and it was his stray ball that led to the visitors taking the lead after the break through Lisandro Martinez.
After the game manager Arne Slot was forced to deny that the potential move was proving a distraction for the 26-year-old, who is out of contract at Anfield this summer.
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And ahead of the Wolves v Nottingham Forest game on Monday Night Football, Carragher reviewed one piece of play where Alexander-Arnold was beaten down the flank by Diogo Dalot. “This position here, Bruno Fernandes, in-between Gravenberch and Trent Alexander-Arnold again,” he said.
“This is something that Arne Slot mentioned after the game, the problems Trent had. We spoke about it after the game too. But this was a huge problem tactically for him in that position.
“So it was far too easy to get the ball to Manchester United’s wing-back on this side. Right from the start of the game we knew he (Dalot) fancied it. He knew he could go past Trent Alexander-Arnold. We saw it numerous times in the game.”
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Attention then turned to the Martinez goal, where Fernandes slipped a pass through to the unmarked Argentinian to blast an angled shot in via the crossbar. “This is shocking from Liverpool defensively really poor,” said Carragher, pointing out Alexander Arnold being out of position.
However, the former Liverpool defender also argued there was no way that the Reds should look to cash in by selling him to Real for a fee this month, as opposed to losing him for nothing in the summer. “He’s had one game, he’s a quality player and the most important thing is Liverpool winning the league,” he said.
Slot opted to haul off Alexander-Arnold before the final whistle, replacing him with Conor Bradley. And the display has led to many fans voicing fears that the club academy product has clearly had his head turned by the La Liga side.
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But the Dutchman refused to embrace suggestions that the player had been impacted negatively. “No. I am fine with it (the speculation),” he said. "Trent has his own people around him, his family and we are there as well. He wants to perform in the best way possible like we all do. That is the main focus."
Captain Virgil van Dijk has also since defended his team-mate’s performance. That was despite appearing to lose his temper with Alexander-Arnold in the second half after having to cover for him to thwart a United counter-attack.
